Reimagining Chinese Diasporas: Queer Art & Community Building

About

Join artists, organisers and researchers to explore identity, belonging and the role of art in reimagining futures for China’s diaspora. About the Event A rising China is transforming the lives of its 60 million-strong diaspora, who are navigating mounting pressures around geopolitics, borders and belonging. For queer, feminist and LGBTQ+ communities, these pressures can be especially intense. Bringing together Chinese diasporic artists, community organisers and researchers, this roundtable explores the challenges these communities face and what art can make possible for individuals, communities, and the institutions and policymakers seeking to support them. Looking ahead, we invite the audience to join us in using art to reimagine an alternative future together – one where identities can be lived more freely and communities can flourish on their own terms. Speakers Moderator: Astrid H. M. Nordin is Professor of Chinese International Relations at King’s College London. Her work explores Chinese politics and international relations, with particular interests in alternative forms of knowledge, politics and global order. Yanran Yao is an affiliate Lecturer in Chinese Politics and Society at King’s College London, with expertise in arts-based co-creation methods. She co-leads the Co-creation with Chinese Communities initiative with Astrid and is the UKRI+ Global Polarities Fellow. FJ (they/she) is a queer Chinese theatre-maker and community participatory artist based in London. Since 2021, they have worked closely with queer diasporic communities across the UK through interdisciplinary creative practices, while also performing in London’s drag scene as “404 not found” and “FunFun”. Spencer Yu is a London-based interdisciplinary artist and workshop facilitator whose mixed-media collage practice explores identity, perception and the tensions between inner experience and social realities. Her socially engaged practice works with local and queer communities through participatory projects on migration, visa experiences and collective reflection Yuwei 鱼尾 (she/they) is a London-based neuroqueer poet and writer whose work explores gendered trauma, girlhood, women’s domestic labour and migration. A member of the London Writers Centre Poetics Lab and a Brooklyn Poets fellow, her writing connects intimate experience with wider questions of gender and diasporic belonging. Tianxin Tian is the Manager of Guanghwa Bookshop, where she has developed a queer and feminist reading corner and an annual Pride mini bookfair in London’s Chinatown. She is also a theatre practitioner and co-founder of Oh My My, creating East Asian queer stories through physical theatre, puppetry and new writing. This event is hosted as part of King’s Lau China Institute’s CHINA WEEK (19-23 October) - a series of events designed to engage a wider audience in China. Find out more at kcl.ac.uk/china-week King’s Alumni The King’s College London Alumni Relations team will use your details to keep you up to date by email about their work, including fundraising and events. You can opt out of these communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in their emails or by contacting [email protected]. For more information about how they use your personal data, please see their Privacy Policy. Please note that by attending this event you agree to follow the Code of Conduct for Visitors.